* The [http://www.winehq.org/license Wine program, website, documentation], and [[WikiLicense:wiki][ use the GNU Lesser General Public License 2.1.

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* The [http://www.winehq.org/license Wine program, website, documentation], and [[WikiLicense|wiki]] use the GNU Lesser General Public License 2.1.

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[[Category:Development]]

[[Category:Development]]

Revision as of 10:00, 17 January 2016

If you're interested in contributing code to Wine, getting started can be daunting. Wine is an ambitious project, with a large codebase, a lot of history, and a strong emphasis on code quality. The resources below should give you an idea of how to start making your way through both the source code and the development protocols that have evolved over the years.

Getting Started

References and FAQs

The DeveloperFaq, ["Developers-Hints"], and HackingTips are quick reads and a good place to begin.

There is also general wiki page with some ideas about HelpingWine.

While not totally complete and up-to-date, the Developers Guide is a very-comprehensive guide and the ultimate reference for working on Wine.

Also, all developers should be careful not to violate the CleanRoomGuidelines (also see relevant sections of the DeveloperFAQ). Submitting patches based on disassembled Microsoft code or dumped implementation details is simply not acceptable.

Working with Other Developers

Sometimes the best way to get some help is to talk with other developers. While other contributors are often busy, focused, well-informed discussions and questions are encouraged and should not be ignored.

Discussions primarily take place on Wine's mailing lists. The developers' list in particular is the place to discuss changes to the software (be sure to subscribe before emailing a list, or else your mail will probably be filtered out as spam).

There are a couple of IRC channels, although depending on timing and urgency, you may not always get a response.

You can see what some of the other contributors are working on by reading the WhosWho or ["Acknowledgements"]. Some contributors also have [:CategoryHomepage:personal pages] on the wiki.

The Wine project has been overseen by AlexandreJulliard for many years now, and as a result, a Wine hacker's informal reputation for writing quality code is known eponymously as a JulliardRank. Although earning and maintaining this good reputation is key to becoming a successful contributor, the community tries to be helpful and does not expect anyone to be perfect, so don't feel discouraged :-)

If you're interested in possibly meeting other programmers in person, WineConf is an annual, offline meeting for Wine developers.

If you are a student with an interesting feature or solution to a problem, you might consider applying to work on Wine as part of Google's SummerOfCode too.

Working with the Code

Wine currently uses git to manage all source code, in order to grab your own copy of the code, look at GitWine. There are also some hints on using GitBranches to manage your work.

There is also a short page about browsing the SourceCode online and downloading code for other portions of the project.

When you're ready to share some of your changes with everyone, be sure to follow the guidelines for SubmittingPatches.

Building from Source

Besides a quick entry in the main ["FAQ"], you probably want to see the page on BuildingWine. You can also look in CategoryDistributions to see if your distro has its own page. If so, there might be specifics about the dependencies and build process for your system.

Other Aspects

There are other aspects of the project besides the main program itself, and these can also sometimes use a programmer's touch.

For info specifically on testing and bug-hunting, try visiting DebuggingHints and the ["Bugs"] page, especially the section "for developers."

Things such as the website and documentation also have moving parts besides content. For more details, see the pages for Designers and Writers.

There are some (currently out-of-date) tips for those interested in ["Packaging"] Wine for different distros and platforms.

Interested in porting the source code of your Windows-native application to Unix? Consider looking into ["Winelib"].

If you currently contribute to an upstream project that Wine uses, you may be able to help with features needed FromOtherProjects.

Tasks and To-Dos

The TodoList is a top-level list of things that need to be done for the Wine project. This is a good first place to look if you're not sure what could use work.

To see what major features or improvements would be necessary for a new stable release of Wine, see the WineReleaseCriteria.

IntegrationProjects are ideas for making Wine and Windows applications run more seamlessly with the underlying OS.

["Fun Projects"] probably aren't critical, but they are interesting and may help make Wine more robust by getting it to run in unexpected situations (i.e. "hack value")

JanitorialProjects involve cleaning up Wine's source code to prevent bugs and make it easier to read. These tasks are usually repetitive and may involve some scripting and code analysis.

A few ["Usability"] improvements have also been proposed.

Very popular applications that still have issues in Wine may have their own pages to coordinate testing and development. These pages are listed in CategoryApplication.

Resources on Specific Topics

There are actually dozens of pages related to specific components and features in Wine. You may find it easier to simply try searching for the topic you're interested in. However, a few categories have been created to make finding things a little quicker.

Category:DLLs consists of all pages about a specific component of the Windows API